Talia

Character and Player
Talia is a human female Paladin in the Half-Moon Smile Campaign. She is played by Dayna Abel from the Made Of Fail podcast.

Left as a baby on the doorstep of a Temple Of Pelor, Talia was raised by priests, and Pelor himself called her to become his Paladin. She spent time training with the master Boralt Kailen and his apprentice Noumenon, until disaster struck and she was forced to flee. She chose to become an adventurer both to find those responsible for Boralt's death and to fight evil all over Eriadne.

Her parentage was at first unknown, then it was later hinted that she was the daughter of Pelor himself. This was recently called into question by Amon.

Talia is a Defending Paladin, focusing more on taking hits for the rest of the group and healing rather than doing damage. When she does strike, she has any number of divine abilities that use the radiance of Pelor to smite evil beings.

Story arc
Talia was at the center of the Half-Moon Smile campaign due to her connection to Noumenon. She had not seen him in years when he appeared in the center of the city he had just burned to the ground. When the party woke up imprisoned, Noumenon came to Talia and slipped her a key to unlock their cells and escape. This left her completely baffled by his motives, but one thing was clear: her old friend was a murderer, and she had to stop him.

Amon, an acolyte of Arik Bryn, attempted at one point to use his power to corrupt her soul. He succeeded only partially, leaving her marked - her left eye turned completely black, save for a white iris. Amon was surprised by her resistance and concluded she must have divine blood and was an actual child of Pelor.

The combination of this revelation and her corruption left Talia reeling. She became cold and withdrawn, taking to covering her marked eye with a patch. During a mission to protect a farming village from a group of marauders, the significance of Arik Bryn's mark became horrifically clear. In mid-battle, surrounded by enemies and seeing her friends close to death, Talia's rage built up beyond her control. Her eye gave a twitch, and she tore away the patch. When her gaze fell upon the enemy, the air shimmered around them and fully one-third of them were vaporized.

She learned after intensive prayer at a Temple of Pelor that if she were to use this power again, her soul would be corrupted permanently and she would become one of Arik Bryn's Acolytes. She renewed her dedication to her father's path and was more determined than ever to stop Arik Bryn's servants from calling forth the Shattered God.

The party came across Noumenon during their quest to bury Arik Bryn's sigil, and despite her former friendship with him, Talia vowed to put an end to his evil. Noumenon was at this point totally possessed by Bane's power, a fact that only came to light after Talia dealt the final blow. While Noumenon was still disoriented and confused, Amon and the Bandaged Man appeared in the cavern, and Amon directed Talia to destroy Noumenon.

Talia could not wholly resist the Corrupter's command, but managed to sever Noumenon's arm rather than killing him outright. She prayed desperately to Pelor and her hands began to glow with a faint light. Snarling her defiance at Amon, she drew her dagger and cut her corrupted eye from its socket, ridding her of Arik Bryn's influence.

Amon took this moment to laugh and tell her she was no demigoddess, but the daughter of a simple whore. Talia still managed to rally herself and help her allies battle Amon and the Bandaged Man until both fled.

Currently, Talia's goal is to seek rehabilitation for Noumenon and determine her lineage once and for all.

Relationships with other characters
During the early stages of the campaign, Talia took Wulfrik as a lover after being impressed by his battle prowess, but her corruption at the hands of Amon sent her into a spiral of self-loathing, and for now that has been put on hold. She is close friends with Jerryelle, a librarian in Sola Terimas.

Out of the entire party, Talia is the one with the closest ties to Noumenon. She trained with him under Boralt Kailen during most of her adolescence and early adulthood. Talia regarded him as a friend, albeit not a close one, as Noumenon viewed Talia as something of a rival for Boralt's attention.